With the Emirates NBA Cup now in the rearview mirror and trade season heating up, the Phoenix Suns have entered a crucial part of their 2024-25 season. Bradley Beal looks like he is on the way back from knee swelling that has kept him out of the last number of games, while there are players the organization needs to think about dealing if they can.
The hope is that they will be fully healthy for a Christmas Day meeting with the Denver Nuggets, while at 14-11 they've escaped the play-in picture in the Western Conference. For now. The rumors of Jimmy Butler somehow forcing his way to Phoenix continue to persist, but that seems incredibly unlikely to happen.
Devin Booker has been in contact with another All-Star this season.
Booker was one of the stars of Team USA at the Olympic Games during the summer, because of his willingness to play a role for that team. In fact you could make the case he was perhaps the most over-qualified fourth or fifth offensive option we've ever seen, while defensively he brought it every night.
One player who was on the fringes of that particular group was Tyrese Haliburton of the Indiana Pacers, who was barely used by head coach Steve Kerr. Not that he was too bothered, it looked like a memorable experience for the Pacers' best player, having led them to the in-season tournament final and Eastern Conference finals prior to that.
When you ain’t do nun on the group project and still get an A🏅 pic.twitter.com/xpshYZhMyA
— Tyrese Haliburton (@TyHaliburton22) August 10, 2024
Speaking to the media recently, and Booker admitted that he's kept in touch with Haliburton since their time in Paris together, including at times throughout this current season. Obviously this is nothing - players speak all of the time - but if you're a Suns fan, knowing the two get on so well off the court has to sting.
That's because the Suns could have drafted Haliburton back in 2020, instead opting to take Jalen Smith on the night. Less than a year later the team was losing the NBA Finals to the Milwaukee Bucks, with the general consensus being that the team was one player short. Could a rookie Haliburton have been that guy?
Devin Booker on bonding with Tyrese Haliburton over the summer in Paris: "He's a character, man. We had a lot of special times, and even post-Olympics....Our relationship has grown. He's somebody that I've tapped in with during this season also, so the communication stays there" pic.twitter.com/cfnsvCA1oD
— Gerald Bourguet (@GeraldBourguet) December 18, 2024
That may have been asking too much at that point from the then Sacramento Kings player - but if Ryan Dunn is going to get minutes in the playoffs this season as he should - then there's no reason Haliburton couldn't have played 12 minutes a night. As a rookie he shot over 40 percent from deep on five attempts per game, a skill the 2021 Suns really could have used.
Really though it hurts to think of what it would be like if Haliburton was in the place of Beal in The Valley, alongside Booker and Kevin Durant. All of a sudden this group would be looked at as genuine contenders, not to mention the fact Haliburton is only 24-years-old and so on a closer timeline to Booker than Beal.
He's far less injury-prone too, and really would have bridged the gap that the organization seem to have overshot. They've gone all in to win now, only they've done it with a 31-year-old in Beal who can't stay healthy and a 36-year-old in Durant who has had his fair share of injury problems.
Speculating on the future is no good right now - there's no way for the Suns to get Haliburton to Phoenix - but it is probably a good thing the lines of communication are open between these two stars. Who knows what the future holds, but the growing friendship between the two over the summer that has carried into this season is instead a painful reminder of the past.